A review by delery
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i know that this was a good book technically. but ughhhhh it was so so so slow and the characters were insufferable. and generally, i like insufferable characters, but they just were not doing it for me at all. maybe i wasn't in the right headspace for this book, but like.... i feel like it could have lost a hundred to two hundred pages and been better. also, was not a fan of all the racial, homophobic, and antisemitic slurs being thrown around, and like i know at times that was to show how awful these people were, but like the segment with the guy on tv was unnecessary.
also just in general, like there were lots of good twists and turns, and like i saw the incest coming but jeeeeeze i was hoping i was going to be wrong about that. and the build was good at times but really dragged at others. idk. maybe ill try it again in 20 years. but mainly i really wanted all of them to be caught. i was never rooting for them, and i think that makes a difference. because people can be awful, but still have some good, but they seemed rotten to the core from the very beginning.
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